Easy Weight Loss Using the 80/20 Rule

For years people have known about the 80/20 rule, which is also known as Pareto’s Principle. The application of this rule can vary, but for the purpose of this article it means that 80% of the results can come from 20% of the effort. (If you want to learn more about the 80/20 rule, simply do a search on the web for Pareto's Principle.)

What I wonder is this: What would happen if you apply the 80/20 rule to dieting, or the pursuit of a lifestyle change in order to improve your health? For instance, what if you drink (on average) 4 soda pops every day and you cut it down to 3 per day. You’ve only taken away 25%, but you’ve also taken away calories and caustic additives. Over a year’s time you’ll have consumed 365 less sodas. That’s pretty significant. If each soda were only 100 calories each, you’d have consumed 36,500 less calories per year, which would probably mean you’d dropped some pounds also. Not to mention the good it does for your teeth and overall, general health.

What would happen if you ate 20% less at each meal? I’m not even going to try to figure out how many calories you’d save each day and how many pounds that would equate to. It’s so easy, and yet it’s one of those things that very few people think of. Losing about a pound per week would be like a walk in the park … effortless!

Of course everything I’ve mentioned so far takes it from the negative becoming more positive. What if you took the positive things you do and increase them by 20%. Like drinking one more cup of water each day or eating one piece of fruit each day. Those types of changes are bound to have a positive effect.

It’s a natural propensity for us to be driven towards pleasure and away from pain. And sadly, we regard dieting as painful. But we can mentally trick ourselves using the 80/20 rule. This way we forge positive, healthy changes through the baby steps that the 80/20 rule provides.

Let’s say you’re a smoker and you’ve tried just about everything short of chopping off your fingers! The 80/20 principle can give you some inspiration without “cutting you off at the weeds (knees).” You can improve your health (and get your self respect back) without fear of failure. Do you smoke 20 cigarettes per day? Smoke four less per day by just cutting out one cigarette every four hours. What if you smoke 40 cigarettes per day? Smoke eight less per day by cutting out one every hour or so. That’s not much, is it?

I'm a firm believer in baby steps and a big fan of quotes. One of my favorites is, "Inch by inch, it's a cinch. By the mile, it's a trial." The 80/20 rule reduces the overwhelming task of changing your health habits by taking baby steps. Anyone can use this principal with success! Give it a try.

Need more inspiration? Visit Wacky for Walking .